>> this is one of the museum's longest art interest groups. it was founded by art lovers who wanted the museum to reflect new directions in contemporary art. it has been focused on artists in this region with an eye toward emerging artists. ♪ it is often at the early stage of their career, often the first major presentation of their work in a museum. it is very competitive.

only a few artists per year receive the award. it is to showcase their work to have a gallery and publication dedicated to their work. ♪ i have been working with them on the last two years on the award and the exhibitions. the book looks at the full scope of the awards they have sponsored. ♪ it has been important to understand the different shifts within the award program and how that is nearing what else is going on in the bay area. -- how that is mirror beiing wht

else is going on in the bay area. ♪ there are artists from different generations sometimes approaching the same theme or subject matter in different ways. they're artists looking at the history of landscape and later artists that are unsettling the history and looking at the history of conquests of nature. ♪ artists speak of what it means to have their work scene. often you are in the studio and do not have a sense of who is really seeing your work. seeing your own work at the institution have gone to for many years and has an international audience is getting the word out to a much larger community. ♪

>> this lodge is home to some of the best fly casting pools in the world. these shallow concrete pools don't have fish. this is just a place where people come to practice their fly casting technique. ith was built in the 1930's and ever since, people have been coming here to get back to nature. every year, the world championship of fly casting is

held in san francisco and visitors from all over the globe travel to be here. >> we are here with phil, general manage of san francisco rec and parks department at the anglers lodge. what do you think about this? >> it is spectacular, travis from oregon, taught me a snake roll and a space cast. >> there are people from all over the world come to san francisco and say this is the place to be. >> yeah. it's amazing, we have teams from all over the world here today and they are thrilled. >> i flew from ireland to be here. and been practicing since for the competition. all the best casters in the world come here. my fellow countryman came in first place and james is on the current team and he is the head

man. >> it's unique. will not see anything like it where you go to compete in the world. competitions in ireland, scotland, norway, japan, russia each year, the facilities here in the park are second to none. there is no complex in the world that can touch it. >> i'm here with bob, and he has kindly agreed to tell me everything i need to know about casting. i'm going to suit up and next, we're in the water. >> what any gentleman should do. golden gate angling has free lessons the second saturday of every month. we have equipment show up on the 9:30 on the second saturday of every month and we'll teach them to fly cast. >> ok. we are in the water. >> let me acquaint you with the

fly rod. >> nice to meet you. >> this is the lower grip and the upper grip. this is a reel and a fly line. we are going to use the flex of this rod to fling away. exactly as you moved your hands. >> that's it? >> that's it. >> i'm a natural. >> push both arms forward and snap the lower hand into your tummy. push forward. >> i did gave it a try and had great time but i might need some more practice. i met someone else with real fly casting skills. her name is donna and she is an international fly casting champion. >> i have competed in the casting ponds in golden gate park in san francisco. i have been to japan and norway for fly casting competition. i spend my weekends here at the

club and at the casting pond. it's a great place to learn and have fun. on a season day like this, it was the perfect spot to be. i find fly casting very relaxing and also at the same time very challenging sport. takes me out into the nature. almost like drawing art in the air. and then i can make these beautiful loops out there. >> even though people from across the globe come here to compete, it's still a place where locals in the know relax and enjoy some rely unique scenery. until next time, get out and play!

>> happy new year. i think it is the year of the dragon, and happy valentine's day. i hope you all remember that today. all right, it is hard to believe -- and somebody may correct me on this. i think this is the 13th year that we have posted this event. think about all the things that have happened in those 13 years. it was a different mayor that we had. it is a thrill and honor to bring together the mayors of

these two great cities to look at the state of the cities and our region. we are delighted to have all of you here to listen, and i think there is well over 600 of you, so thank you for making this your morning. last year was the first time we had these two very special measures -- mayors together as each had just assumed the role. it will be interesting after a year on the job to hear their perspectives, and what a year it has been. we want to congratulate you, mayor lee, on your inauguration and election. and mayor kwan we are so thrilled you are here again. certainly, both of you have been

very preoccupied, so to speak. with many challenges that you really did not foresee that we met last year, and many opportunities as well. our tradition is to alternate this event between the two cities from year to year. last year, we hosted the event in san francisco, which is why we are here at the oakland convention center this year. so thank you for being our gracious host this year. we are delighted that mayor lee traveled across the bay to be here in oakland. doesn't this convention center look fantastic? it has been a great renovation throughout. really terrific asset for this city. i hope your year is off to a good start. i personally feel rather optimistic as we talk to the many businesses we interact with

every day and every week. this morning, we're going to start our program with two speakers who will share information about the economy, the outlook for real estate and investing, and then we will hear from our mayors. it is a great time to be talking about the economy because it at least appears to be getting a little bit better, maybe in fits and starts. we are hearing some good news on the job front -- not nearly enough yet. i will just ask -- who does think that the economy in 2012 will actually be better than 2011? good. that is about maybe half. who thinks that we are lucky to be in the general climate for business and the regional economy? before we get to our program, i want to thank the organizations and people who made all this

possible. i will say now, though, you may have questions that you would like our moderator to ask. if you would like to send them up early, there are index cards at your tables, so just hold your hands up high and somebody will come collect them and give them to our moderator. this event is jointly presented by san francisco business times and our title fund. you will soon hear from our executive vice president and our partner presenting this program. by the way, it was founded in oakland 15 years ago, and they co-founded this with us. we thank our sponsors, starting with city national bank, which is also a longtime sponsor and partner and provides us with the outlook on investment and

finance each year. we want to thank bob grant, the vice-president for city national bank, the nation's 26 largest bank with more than $23 billion in total assets and 79 offices in the bay area, southern california, nevada, an atlanta. they provide their businesses and families with complete financial solutions on the way up. we also want to thank golden gate university, which is also what i'm going to sponsor this event, and an angel, president of golden gate university. you will see him in just a minute. for over 110 years, nonprofit golden gate university has been helping adults achieve their professional goals by providing undergraduate and graduate education in accounting, law, business, and other related areas. ggu is california's fifth largest nonprofit university,

and rolling over five dozen students with over 67,000 alumni. offering weakened forces in downtown san francisco and online through the university's award winning cyber campus -- weekend courses in downtown san francisco. kaiser, founded in 1945, nonprofit integrated health-care organization with physicians, nurses, and staff working in collaboration to provide quality care and address the health care needs of communities served by the organization. kaiser permanente northern california region served almost 3.2 million members, including 5000 positions in the medical group and about 54,000 employees. and the region has 19 major medical centers. each year, kaiser permanente a donates about $300 million to various community programs in

northern california. we also want to thank webcor builders. among the many iconic buildings they have built our oakland pose a beautiful cathedral, the academy of science in sanford cisco. there currently a work on some public projects such as sf general hospital, sfpuc, and the transbay terminal. it has become known for its innovative and efficient approach, wide range of experience, cost-effective design, methodology, skill in construction, expert use of technology in construction, and currently, they are ranked in the top 10 of what does general contractors in california and consistently ranked in the top five green contractors in the u.s. and longtime sponsor returning again is oakland law firm

wendell, rosen, black, and dean. this firm -- we have a lot of long standing firms here. more than 100 years in oakland. continues to be a leader here and throughout the bay area. attorneys have played a role in many construction projects, commercial and residential development and business deals that have helped shape this community. they remind you of the importance of having a complete set of legal tools at your disposal, and the firm hit -- helps a bay area leaders litigation across multiple disciplines. land use, environmental, corporate, i.t., technology, bankruptcy, estate planning -- you got it, they are there for you. thank you. many thanks to our partner in associations to help promote this event. san francisco chamber of

commerce, san francisco's center for economic development, oakland metropolitan chamber of commerce, spur, emeryville chamber of commerce, and east bay eba. thank you for partnering with us. i know i will miss some of you, but let me extend a welcome to the public officials that i have been alerted are here. from the city of san francisco, the director of the mta, the executive director of the port of san francisco, the director of the office of economic and workforce development, the director of business development, office of economic workforce development. from the city of oakland, council member, district 5, city administrator, the sick -- the assistant city administrator, the executive director of the port of oakland, and the chair

of the port commission. i know i have missed someone. forgive me. if someone wants to send up a card, i will acknowledge your. there it quickly, just have to mention when i have this many people in the room, a few things about the business. we had a great year. everything that is supposed to be up for us is up. hopefully that is a good economic indicator. we are off to a great start in 2012. hopefully you are a subscriber and read our economic forecast. hopefully you received one or more of our free e-mail products. we just launched a weekly call structures commercial real estate. e-mail news. free every thursday. we will give you an early alert to some of the things in our print edition. you can go online and sign up for any of them. on the print edition, we have unique premier content that you have to pay for. we are offering a $15 savings on a full year subscription, full access to premium content, and a

book of lists, which was just printed. if you want to see our circulation team, leave your card. they will enter you into a contest for a $50 gift certificate, and you will be well armed for doing business in the bay area with all the information we provide every week. hopefully, you are armed already. we do this program every year. also, i was told, if you are tweeting about this program -- i know you all are this morning -- you can do hash tag #sfbtevents and you will be eligible. we have information every day, every week, every hour for you on our website. we do this program every year because we truly love these two cities. we like to think of the great dynamics between the two of them. we think it is neat that our two mayors are longtime friends and

colleagues. that is a wonderful thing, so who knows how much they share and the opportunities and possibilities that come from that. we do know the economic vitality of each city impacts the other, so we will have each major share his or her vision for the future, share their priorities, biggest challenges, and how they are tackling them. what they are doing to improve the business climate and how they are bringing businesses to their cities or preventing them from leaving. and how are they dealing with the loss of redevelopment funding, staff cuts, deficits, and what about those sports teams and stadiums and sailing events? i cannot wait to hear what they have to say. what opportunities exist overseas with china? before we get to the mayor, we will get some expert insight on the economy, what the realistic outlook is, and a look at finance and investing. are we seeing more green shoots

of opportunity? let's begin. the executive vice president has been our partner and has been actively engaged as a broker in the sale and leasing of commercial real estate in san francisco for the past 30 years. he most represented the university of the -- of pacific school of dentistry in the acquisition of their new campus and is handling the current headquarters office expansion for online retail giant macys .com. he is a true expert and knows everything about every building. please welcome dan crestmond. [applause] >> i just have to say the "san francisco business times" is by far the best source of news anywhere in the area.